Stakeholders and Partners

Friends of the Lakeshore Nature Preserve

A woman looks through a camera lens and a child looks through binoculars.
Photo by Paul Noeldner.

The Friends of the Lakeshore Nature Preserve is a non-profit membership organization that supports the Preserve through volunteering, fundraising, stewardship projects and interpretive programs. They offer excellent free guided field trips and nature walks and maintain a rich and extensive website that is well worth exploring.

Website: www.friendslakeshorepreserve.com
Contact: preserveFriends@gmail.com

Eagle Heights Community Gardens

A sign with a smiling sun on it reads, "Eagle Heights Community Gardens est. 1962".
Photo by Bryn Scriver

The University of Wisconsin’s Eagle Heights Community Gardens (EHCG) was established in 1962 to offer Eagle Heights residents, the UW-Madison and surrounding communities the opportunity to participate in an organic community garden. EHCG is one of the oldest and largest community gardens in the United States. At last count, the pool of gardeners speak approximately 60 languages. The gardens feature gardening practices from around the world. Located within the Lakeshore Nature Preserve, the gardens provide a wonderful place for meeting fellow gardeners, family picnics and walks, and bird watching.

Website: www.eagleheightsgardens.org
Contact: ehgardens@rso.wisc.edu

Biocore

As described on the Biocore website, “Students and staff from Biocore’s Evolution, Ecology, and Genetics courses are restoring an old field near Picnic Point to tall grass prairie and monitoring its progress. Each new class of students is learning ecological principles and methods by contributing to multi-year research projects at the Biocore site.” This prairie can serve as a model for other restorations in the Preserve, and the use of fire in its management can be extended to other Preserve ecosystems that will also benefit from controlled burns.

Learn more about Biocore: www.biocore.wisc.edu/about

Biocore Bird Banding Station

A researcher carefully holds a songbird to collect banding data.
Photo by Jeff Miller/UW-Madison.

The Biocore Prairie Bird Banding Station (or Observatory) is an all-volunteer operation that monitors bird populations in the Preserve, above Picnic Point. They welcome volunteers of all skill levels, and will teach volunteers how to band birds. Banding offers a wonderful opportunity for people to see birds up close, learn about their migration and nesting patterns, and understand how natural areas enhance their biological success. The Observatory provides opportunities for students to do research projects in the summer, and for individuals to use as a research resource.

Learn more about the Biocore Prairie Bird Observatory: www.friendslakeshorepreserve.com/bird-observatory.html

UW Student Organic Farm

The UW Student Organic Farm is a collection of agricultural plots (including the Dining and Culinary Services (DCS) Farm, The People’s Farm, Wunk Sheek, and Greenhouse Learning Community) at Eagle Heights Community Gardens. The UW Student Organic Farm is a project of the UW Organic Collaborative, a group of faculty, staff, and partners committed to furthering organic agriculture using research, academics, and outreach. The UW Organic Collaborative provides administrative support for all of the student groups involved.

Learn more about the UW Organic Collaborative: uworganic.wisc.edu

The People’s Farm (formerly known as F.H. King)

On Sept. 16, 2008, volunteers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison's F.H. King Students for Sustainable Agriculture harvest green beans and weed their 30,000-square-foot garden plot, UW-Madison's first community-supported agriculture (CSA) farm, near Picnic Point in Madison.
Photo by Jeff Miller/UW-Madison.

The People’s Farm is a student organization at UW-Madison focused on sustainable agriculture. All the food we grow here is all given back to the community for free; locality, community, and good food for all is the center of our mission. It maintains an organic garden adjacent to the Eagle Heights Community Gardens.

Website: www.the-peoples-farm.com
Contact: thepeoplesfarm.uw@gmail.com

Experimental Archeology Laboratory (Art and Anthropology Kilns)

The Experimental Archeology Laboratory is located in the “working landscape” of the Preserve near the Grounds Storage Area and the the Eagle Heights Gardens. It is the site of two kilns used by students and faculty to study traditional wood-fired methods of firing and glazing ceramics. The Anthropology department builds and fires a clay kiln each year as part of its Ancient Technology and Invention class.

Outdoor UW

Water-sport enthusiasts enjoy using stand-up paddleboards on Lake Mendota near the Memorial Union Terrace at the University of Wisconsin-Madison during a summer evening on Aug. 7, 2014. The paddleboards are available for rent from Outdoor UW, home to the Wisconsin Hoofers and a facility for outdoor equipment rentals. (Photo by Jeff Miller/UW-Madison)
Photo by Jeff Miller/UW-Madison.

Outdoor UW is the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s outlet to the outdoors. A program of the Memorial Union, Outdoor UW includes outdoor equipment rentals, outdoor education, and the legendary UW Hoofers outing clubs. UW Hoofers runs recreational outings all around the state and nation, but some of its most celebrated activities—canoeing and sailing in particular—take place on the waters of Lake Mendota and often involve exploring the Lakeshore Nature Path from the water. Outdoor UW rents kayaks, canoes, and stand-up paddleboards, so it’s a great way for UW-Madison students to get access to equipment for exploring the Preserve from the lake. In the winter they rent snowshoes to give you another way to explore the Preserve!

Outdoor UW: https://union.wisc.edu/events-and-activities/outdoor-uw
Contact: outdooruw@union.wisc.edu, (608) 262-1630

Campus Event Services

The Campus Event Services Office assists Wisconsin Union members, student organizations and campus departments in planning and coordinating events and campus activities in the Memorial Union, Union South and other campus buildings and campus outdoor spaces including Picnic Point fire circle reservations and Howard Temin Lakeshore Path run/walk requests.

Physical Plant-Grounds Department

A grounds worker smooths the surface material on the path at the entrance to Picnic Point with a rake.
Photo by Bryn Scriver.

In addition to maintaining the lawns, flower beds, and landscape trees of the main campus, the staff from the Facilities Planning & Management Physical Plant-Grounds Department also provides support to the Lakeshore Nature Preserve by removing hazard trees, splitting wood for fire circles, and maintaining the Howard Temin Lakeshore Path.